What Happens If You Die Without a Will in Arizona?

If you die without children in Arizona, your surviving spouse inherits your entire estate. Your parents, siblings, and other relatives receive nothing. This is the simplest intestacy scenario, but it highlights why having a will matters—if you want to leave anything to parents, siblings, or charity, you must do so in a will or trust.

When you have children from a prior relationship in Arizona: One-half of separate property only. No share of decedent's community property (spouse already owns their half). Blended families often have the most to gain from estate planning, as intestacy rules may not reflect your actual wishes for how to provide for both your spouse and children from different relationships.

Arizona requires heirs to survive you by 120 hours (5 days) to inherit. If an heir dies within this window, they're treated as having died before you, and their share passes to the next eligible heirs. This prevents the complication of assets passing through multiple estates when family members die close together—such as in an accident or during a shared illness. The 5-day period gives time for the situation to stabilize before determining who ultimately inherits.

Arizona uses "per capita at each generation" distribution—a modern approach that treats grandchildren more fairly than traditional rules. If one of your children dies before you, their share doesn't just pass to their children (your grandchildren). Instead, all grandchildren from all deceased children pool together and divide that combined share equally. This prevents the unfairness that can occur when one deceased child had four kids while another had one—under older "per stirpes" rules, those grandchildren would receive dramatically different amounts despite being in the same generation.

Arizona's intestacy laws are codified in A.R.S. § 14-2102. These statutes define exactly who inherits and in what proportions when someone dies without a valid will. The rules can change through legislative action, so anyone relying on intestacy should verify current law. More importantly, these default rules rarely match what people actually want—creating a will or trust lets you choose your beneficiaries rather than letting the state decide for you.